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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073926">twin shenanigans snooping edition</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymukemadness/pseuds/mymukemadness'>mymukemadness</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>tense avengers [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision (TV), Young Avengers (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, M/M, Other, Roleplay Logs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:14:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,815</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymukemadness/pseuds/mymukemadness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Thread from a roleplay server in which everyone's favorite fuckboi and witch uncover suburban trauma. Invite in notes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Kaplan &amp; Pietro Maximoff &amp; Wanda Maximoff &amp; Tommy Shepherd, Billy Kaplan &amp; Tommy Shepherd, Billy Kaplan &amp; Wanda Maximoff, Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan, Wanda Maximoff &amp; Tommy Shepherd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>tense avengers [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>twin shenanigans snooping edition</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waiting was something Tommy despised with the intensity of a thousand suns. Standing outside Brooklyn Visions Academy, he was tapping his foot impatiently: the light green converse blurring against the pavement slightly as he waited, glancing at his cell phone to see the exact second the hour would roll over, and the school day would end. Dressed in a loose-fitting pair of jeans and a green hoodie, the white-haired teenager glanced back up at the building and sighed. As the hour flipped, he was in motion instantaneously: blasting through the hallways fast enough he didn't even leave a blur to be seen, just as swift rush of air that would stumble the unaware once he was past. </p><p>Finding Billy didn't take long - he knew the rough layout of the school, and Billy's schedule for the most part - and thus was able to swoop into the room as the students were filing out, heft his brother into his arms, and be out of the school once more in a microsecond - pausing only long enough to apply enough resistance to trip Kesler as the bully was nearing his locker at the end of the day on their way out the door. </p><p>Setting Billy down on his feet a few blocks away, Tommy regarded his twin from head to toe for a few moments. "God, I can't believe they stick you in uniforms." He commented dryly. "You wanna change before we do this, or you sticking with the good boy suit?"</p><p>The school day always dragged, but it dragged especially slowly after he and Tommy made their plans. Billy waited with equal amounts of excitement and trepidation. As much as he wanted to get to the bottom of this whole...Westview thing, it unnerved him. Deeply. There was something about the dreams, something unsettling beyond the fact that he didn't remember experiencing the so-called memories. Something dark.</p><p>When the final bell rang, Billy had just enough time to get up from his desk before he was outside, literal blocks away from the school. He shot Tommy a look, hair windswept and tie hanging over his shoulder.</p><p>"It's supposed to make it so no one can make fun of anyone about clothes or whatever, but mostly it just means everyone finds worse things to make fun of," he shrugged. "Let's just get this over with. As long as I don't rip my jacket to shreds, I'll be fine."</p><p>As Billy shot him a look, Tommy shrugged his shoulders slightly at his twin. "Hey, what can I say, I want to get this whole thing dead and buried." He commented lightly - attempting to hide his own trepidation and nerves about whatever all of this meant behind his usual cool, collected persona. Taking in Billy's windswept hair and dangling tie for a moment, a slight smirk formed on his face. "You look better with messy hair." He commented idly. </p><p>As Billy defended the uniform - and pointed out its greatest shortcoming, Tommy simply checked the time on his phone again. "And even if you do, you're probably the only student in that school who could fix it immediately." He pointed out dryly. He moved faster than a blink, once more holding Billy in his arms before his brother could protest. "Though personally I do have to say thank God I don't have to wear one." He observed before, like a shot, they were off: weaving through traffic and along stretches of highway, further away from New York and deeper into New Jersey - only slowing to a stop as they reached the edge of the small town, its green sign proclaiming 'Westview: Home: It's Where You Make It' as Tommy lowered Billy back to his feet.</p><p>Dead and buried. Not really the words Billy wanted to hear at the moment. Not when the vivid memories of Agnes' magic were still burned into his brain. Billy thought of Sparky, who was supposedly dead and buried in the little town. Despite the fact that he'd known the dog for less than a full day in memories that weren't entirely his own, he missed Sparky. They'd gotten attached, perhaps alarmingly quickly.</p><p>"I do not," he shot back, hurriedly pushing his hair back into place just in time for Tommy to scoop him up for a second time. Billy would have protested, but it was unwise to open one's mouth at this speed and moving at all meant risking whiplash because Tommy was fast.</p><p>Westview: Home: It's Where You Make It. Billy shivered. What did that mean? The sign was familiar, though he was certain he'd never seen it, not even in his dreams. Disturbing.</p><p>"So, I guess we're doing this," he announced, leading the way. It seemed like a normal enough town. And then they came to the street sign. "Tommy," Billy breathed. Ellis Ave stared down at him from above and Billy's hands started to shake.</p><p>"You do." Tommy responded flatly to Billy's insistence that he didn't look good with messy hair once the two of them had come to a halt outside of the town, looking up at the sign for the town. Frowning at the sign, Tommy wet his lips slightly as he drank in the message on the sign. That was an ominous slogan for a town, wasn't it? But he left the thought unspoken - he knew Billy would be having similar thoughts. </p><p>As the pair of them started to move - Tommy following Billy down the street, leaving only a little distance between them, he looked around at the somewhat run down and dilapidated buildings near the edge of town. So far, nothing too terribly unusual - just another small New Jersey town that had seen better days. But it was Billy who saw it first. He looked over at the sound of his name being hissed - his gaze moving to the street sign. </p><p>"Ah." He exhaled slowly, looking at the sign. "Well. That tells us Uncle P 2.0 did tell me something useful." He murmured to Billy, glancing down to see his brothers' hands trembling. "B," He said a little more forcefully - to catch his attention. "Whatever happened here happened years ago. We're fine." He emphasized.</p><p>As they walked, Billy forced himself to take in his surroundings. Did anything look familiar? Not particularly. Just a typical suburban neighborhood, as far as he could tell. Still, there was something under the surface, an energy he couldn't quite get a handle on. It was familiar magic, like his mother's. And there was other magic, too. Darker, crueler even.</p><p>The street sign took the breath from Billy's lungs, but Tommy grounded him. It was real. It was all real. At least, the town and the street were real and that meant the rest of it was probably real, too. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and tried not to think about the fact that that meant Agnes was real.</p><p>"Yeah. Fine," he mumbled back, stumbling a bit away from the sign. "We should...keep moving." Ducking his head down a bit, Billy started forward again. Things were beginning to look more familiar now. Not the people, but the houses and the neat lawns. Not the same, obviously, because it had been years, but eerily similar.</p><p>While he couldn't sense the magic the way Billy could, Tommy could tell something was off about this town. On the surface it looked just like any other dying small town in New Jersey - but something was different. He couldn't put his finger on it. But when Billy put his hands into his pockets and mumbled, Tommy kept his eyes on his twin - reaching to catch him on the shoulder lightly as he stumbled back a little. </p><p>Moving with Billy, Tommy kept looking around the town curiously and interestedly: his eyes moving between buildings and the neat suburban lawns. They were moving through the town, not really attracting much attention from anyone. Stuffing his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, it was Tommy's turn to stop abruptly as they neared the center of town, looking at a small park with a gazebo. Frowning slightly, he bit at his lower lip. </p><p>"B... do you remember like... a picnic or something?" He asked simply, examining the park and the gazebo a bit critically. "Like... just like a little flash of one? With mom and dad?"</p><p>No one gave them a second glance and Billy had always thought people in the suburbs were supposed to be suspicious of strangers. Perhaps it had something to do with all of the magic interacting. Maybe Billy's magic was so similar to the magic that was already here that people were just...not noticing them. Or maybe he was being paranoid and they were just two very non-threatening teenagers.</p><p>Billy turned to the gazebo and frowned. A picnic. Those goddamn overalls that someone (Mom? Dad?) had allowed him to leave the house in. There was a buzzing in his brain, but he pushed it back because there was no time to have a panic attack right now and there was Definitely no time to deal with whatever his chaos magic would produce.</p><p>"Yeah. It was...nice. Before all the bad stuff, maybe?" Blue sparks ran up and down his arms. Seeing this place like this was just...deeply unsettling. Billy couldn't understand how Tommy wasn't losing it, but he was thankful for his steady brother. "I keep expecting to...see someone we know or something."</p><p>He felt the slight tingle in the air as Billy's magic flared - blue energy sparking up and down his arms as Tommy looked at his brother. "Hey. B." He spoke a little louder, trying to focus his brother on him more than on the panic attack he knew was probably bubbling just beneath the surface. Billy was the anxious one, there had never been any question about that - but it was all unsettling to Tommy. He was just hiding it better. The hair on his arms had been on end beneath his hoodie since he'd read the sign for Ellis Avenue. </p><p>"We didn't really know many people I don't think." Tommy pointed out simply. "Mom kept us close to home." Biting his lower lip, he glanced over the town square surrounding the small park with its gazebo. A sudden, visceral, powerful memory slammed over him of using super speed for the first time in his life - that life - and he shook his head quickly to try and push it away. </p><p>"And besides, if Agnes was some sort of like... evil witch or whatever, Mom dealt with her." He stated simply and finally - not at all sure about the truth of that statement, but needing Billy - at least - to be certain it was true when push came to shove.</p><p>Billy knew not everything about Westview had been bad. A lot had been very good, in fact. Things had only started to get creepy in the most recent dreams. Before that, they had lived an idyllic life in the suburbs, the perfect family with superpowers to boot. Vision had been an excellent father and Wanda a loving mother to both twins. It had been the family Tommy deserved and Billy hated to think of what the whole experience was doing to his brother.</p><p>"Sorry," he managed, finally noticing the flares of blue energy he was releasing. A moment with his eyes closed and some breathing exercises he'd learned from his therapist helped a great deal. Though he could still feel the barely-contained magic, it was contained, at least for now.</p><p>"Yeah, of course. She's an Avenger, a superhero. She wouldn't let someone like that walk, right?" Billy straightened his shoulders. "Okay. We should go to the square. Center of town and all that."</p><p>Tommy was trying very hard not to think about how much better his life had been in Westview, even accounting for attempted murder by evil witches, compared with what he actually grew up with. Billy honestly had gotten to such thoughts ahead of Tommy - who was attempting to stifle his own unease and keep Billy calm rather than truly thinking deeply about anything. </p><p>"You're alright, B." He emphasized quietly to his twin as Billy apologized. "No need to be sorry." He watched the sparks fade as Billy worked on his breathing, and then nodded his head slightly at the mention of the square. </p><p>"Alright. You want me to take the lead for a bit?" He asked - showing more concern for Billy's mental well-being than he ever typically did as he started to head towards the town square.</p><p>Under other circumstances, Billy would point out that Tommy was being uncharacteristically kind to him. The lack of snide comments and jabs would normally have thrown him for a loop. But, here? They were both on edge and Tommy wasn't the kind of guy who twisted the knife in your gut if he actually cared about you.</p><p>Billy nodded and followed somewhat numbly behind his brother. For once in his life, Tommy didn't speed ahead and Billy was grateful because he was pretty sure his legs would give out if he tried to run.</p><p>Honestly, he was doing better until the square came into view. A dream-memory came out of nowhere and hit Billy like a freight train.</p><p>Noise. So much noise and a terrible feeling of dread. Something was wrong, he just knew it. He didn't have to think before he was stopping Tommy and directing them both to their mother. Of course, it only got worse from there. Pain, terrible pain and anguish. And soldiers. Dad was in trouble.</p><p>Billy clutched his head. It felt like all of the noise was still in there, despite the town's quiet.</p><p>"Something happened to Dad. I mean, to Vision. Mom got...mad. And Uncle P was there, I think..."</p><p>As the pair of them headed towards the town square, Tommy took the opportunity of being in front of Billy - and thus a little more out of view - to allow a slightly tense look to cross his face. Biting his lower lip, his eyes darted around slightly: drinking in the somewhat dilapidated brick buildings and the storefronts ringing the town square. It looked... grimier than he remembered it - but he supposed whatever had been going on to make the town more 'perfect' was partially responsible for cleaning town up a little.</p><p>He kept walking - not noticing that Billy had stopped for a moment until he heard his brother speak. Turning to look at Billy as the dark-haired twin was clutching his head, Tommy's own memories were triggered by the words: A feeling of euphoria as he sped around, only to suddenly be halted by a wall of blue energy radiating from Billy's hand as his brother stared into the distance. And then they had both gone running to their mom - and Uncle P... </p><p>"Don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your dead husband can die twice." Tommy muttered the quip from their uncle, frowning a little more intently as he looked at Billy.</p><p>It's not like your dead husband can die twice. Nine words almost blew all of the control Billy had managed to shore up through sheer force of will. He recalled Uncle P flying through the air and then Mom had...done something. Her eyes had gone red.</p><p>"Yeah," he choked out. "But, Vision's not dead? We just talked to him..."</p><p>For whatever reason, Billy had thought coming here would make things clearer. Instead, it was having the opposite effect, raising more questions than answers.</p><p>"Tommy, maybe we should go..." People were starting to give them odd looks now. Probably because they both had abject terror on their faces for no apparent reason.</p><p>The words were rattling and echoing around Tommy's head as he tried to make sense of them - tried to figure out what was happening; what they meant. Vision wasn't dead - they'd just spoken to him a few days before. As Billy questioned the joke as well, Tommy felt a slight shudder run down his spine, swallowing apprehensively as he heard the choked nature of Billy's voice - the obvious worry and anxiety in his brother's tone. </p><p>"I - I dunno, B." He shook his head slightly to try and clear his thoughts - but he could see it all still: Uncle P being blasted backwards, the red light in Wanda's eyes. It made his skin crawl. Whatever had been happening, that certainly was always ominous when Wanda's eyes glowed from within. </p><p>Glancing around swiftly at the few people now looking at them askance and with suspicion, Tommy reached out to grab Billy's shoulder and turned his twin in unison with himself to face away from the people staring at them, so they were standing side by side, looking deeper into the town. "D-do you want to?" He asked softly. "Once mom finds out we were here we'll probably never get another chance to try and figure things out ourselves here."</p><p>While it was sort of nice to know that he wasn't the only one freaking out, Billy also found Tommy's concern a little...disconcerting. He was the older twin and, as much as Billy argued it didn't matter, the more stable of the two of them in a lot of ways. Emotionally, for sure. Or maybe he was just emotionally stunted while Billy was full to the brim. Either way, Tommy was his rock most of the time, and to hear his rock shaken didn't make Billy feel any better.</p><p>"No," he admitted after a tense moment of silence. "She'll never let us come back." And they had to know. So, Billy spent several long moments breathing, one hand gripping Tommy's shoulder just a bit too tightly until he felt like he could open his eyes and face the world again. "We have to go...home."</p><p>While Tommy would never have gone so far as to consider himself anyone's rock, he was doing his level best to help keep Billy calm. In all honesty, it was a way to deflect his own anxieties about what they were finding away for the time being. He didn't want to stop and think about any of the implications of what they were finding - because that was a direct route to him having a crisis of his own.</p><p>So he simply nodded his head as Billy agreed with him that Wanda wouldn't let them just return here once she had found out what they had done. Letting his twin squeeze his shoulder tightly as he breathed, Tommy swallowed slightly at Billy's statement. "Express or regular speed?" He asked quietly.</p><p>Billy hummed in thought before finally answering, "Express." It occurred to him then that it wasn't just their home they would be seeing, but Agnes'. And Herb's and Dottie's and all of the other people they'd sort of known, but not really because their mother hadn't taken them out except for on Halloween. His hands glowed blue again and Billy shoved them back into his pockets so as not to draw any more attention than they already had. Just thinking about Agnes was enough to put him over the edge, so he would have to keep her out of his mind.</p><p>As soon as Billy stated he wanted express, Tommy was in motion: heaving Billy into his arms again and speeding forward through the town towards the suburban street where they had 'lived' in whatever Westview had been to them. The homes blurred past them as Tommy carried them towards their old home: slowing as they entered the street, his eyes roving over the homes, and halting on a vacant lot where there should have been... literally anything else. Gently setting Billy back on his feet, Tommy glanced towards the house next door. Agnes' house. But there was no sign of anything sinister or suspicious about the home.</p><p>Perhaps Tommy was able to see while they were in motion, but it all passed so quickly for Billy he hardly had time to get a breath in. He figured it was probably for the best, given the number of things he'd seen in town already that had...shaken him. He wondered if whatever had happened to his mom here would happen to him, too. After all, they both used chaos magic, which was  well-known for being particularly difficult to control.</p><p>Billy's feet touched down and he gave himself a moment to reorient before opening his eyes. Before the twins was not the home Billy had seen in his head time and time again, but an empty plot. The foundations had been laid, but it looked like that had been some time ago.</p><p>"What? I don't get it..." The fear and uncertainty were bubbling up again and he turned his head away only to see Agnes' house.</p><p>On the outside, it didn't look like much, but Billy knew better. Just like he could feel his mother's magic in this spot, flowing into him without his permission, so too could he feel Agnes' energy, or lack thereof. Where Wanda's magic made its presence known, Agnes' was almost like an emptiness. It was cold compared to his mother's warmth.</p><p>"It should be here," he muttered distractedly, his eyes beginning to glow a bright blue. "Everything else is here, so why isn't this?"</p><p>It was one of the perks of having super-speed: one's brain was wired to process information at super-speed. Tommy was able to take in and process the sight of the town as they sped through it, considering and working out the layout of the town as they went, even as he still remembered the way to their old home... even if he had never really left the street with the exception of Halloween. Frowning slightly at the empty plot as Billy was placed back on his feet, Tommy crossed his arms over his chest tightly. </p><p>"I dunno." Tommy answered the question with a shrug of his shoulders, not noticing the blue glow in Billy's eyes as they stood side-by-side before the vacant lot. "Maybe it got condemned and torn down?" He suggested, taking a few steps forward up the driveway - weeds growing in cracks in the asphalt - to examine the site of the house curiously from all angles. "It seems... small." He pointed out a little confusedly himself. "Like... I remember the house being huge and this is... not a huge foundation."</p><p>It didn't make sense. Agnes' house was right there. The gazebo was in the park where it was supposed to be. The street sign was there, if a little rustier than Billy remembered it. He could feel the magic in this place, stronger than anywhere else in town, but there was no house. Just...grass and the remnants of a foundation that had apparently never been built upon. And Tommy was right. It was small. How could so many things match up, but not what was probably the most important one? It was...infuriating. They'd come all this way and they'd actually found proof that Westview existed and then to be foiled at the last second even though Billy could tell there was something here...</p><p>"It's wrong," Billy growled, a strange sort of echo in his voice. Slowly, he rose off of the ground, seemingly pulled to the center of the foundation by invisible strings. In his mind, he could see the house, the one he and Tommy had maybe-sort of grown up in. The buzzing in his head reached a crescendo and the world went bright blue.</p><p>He was pacing around the foundation  - nudging it slightly with the toe of his sneaker absentmindedly as he tried to puzzle out what had happened both to the house, and to make the foundation so small. It made no sense - he remembered huge rooms and a relatively spacious yard, not... this small lot and small foundation.</p><p>He looked over as he heard Billy speak, noting the strange growl in his voice. Staring open-mouthed as his twin floated into the air and drifted over the foundation, Tommy saw the blue energy arcing and crackling off of Billy. </p><p>"B!" He yelled, alarm and panic in his voice as he jumped the foundation and raced for his twin at a human speed even as the brilliant, blinding flash of blue exploded off of Billy.</p><p>A blast of bright blue with Billy at the center. The burst of magic was eerily quiet, but the results were instantaneous. The ground beneath him was moving, changing. The foundation grew and a house rose from nothing in seconds, pieces flying together like a Lego construction from absolutely nowhere. It was their house, the right one. The one that was supposed to be there. Billy could feel his connection to this place and it drove the magic. A yard big enough for two young boys to enjoy, a driveway that could fit one car because the woman of the house stayed at home with her children, rosebushes in the front garden to put most others to shame.</p><p>It stopped as quickly as it had started and Billy dropped like a stone. The house had gone up around him and he fell to the floor in the living room that hadn't existed a minute ago, barely conscious. He'd done it again. Lost control. And Tommy had been there. Where was Tommy? And what was this house? What did it mean?</p><p>Rushing towards the epicenter of a powerful display of magic wasn't even close to the dumbest thing Tommy had ever done. But it definitely made the top ten. As the home was built around him, Tommy found himself buffeted and tossed by his brother's magic: being quite powerfully thrown to the floor of an upstairs bedroom that hadn't existed moments before. </p><p>Winded, a little disoriented, Tommy lay on the floor for several moments, gasping and panting for breath as he took in the two twin beds on either side of the room, the television on the dresser, the toys scattered about. One bed with red bedding, the other with green. "Billy." He groaned, shifting to sit up: still not enough air in his lungs to run as, using Billy's old bed, he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled out the door to the upstairs hall.</p><p>"Billy?" He called with a little more force as - leaning on the railing - he came downstairs, spotting his twin sprawled in the center of the living room. "Shit." He jumped the last few steps, hurrying to crouch beside his brother: whose school uniform had also fallen victim to his magic, the blazer, shirt, and tie of Brooklyn Visions now a crimson and navy sweater with a pair of jeans. </p><p>"C'mon, no passing out on me, buddy." He ordered as he vigorously - but gently as he dared - smacked Billy's cheeks to rouse him.</p><p>As he lay on the floor, drifting in and out of consciousness - large displays of magical power tended to do that to a guy - Billy wondered if maybe this was just his lot in life. Sure, people kept telling him he was going to be the next Sorcerer Supreme or some kind of god or whatever, but he certainly didn't feel like one. It seemed as though whenever something Big happened, his magic exploded and caused complete chaos.</p><p>"'m not passed out," Billy mumbled, his eyes fluttering open. Sluggishly, he raised an arm to pat at all of the parts of his brother he could reach. He seemed unharmed? Maybe a bit winded, but not dead or electrocuted or suddenly ten years old, so that was something. With some difficulty he sat up and, once the room stopped spinning, got his first look at just what he had done.</p><p>"Oh god. Tommy, the house. It wasn't here before. Did I do this?" He looked down and found his school uniform replaced with casual clothes, a sweater and jeans he wasn't sure he'd normal wear. "How are we supposed to explain this? What if someone saw? Oh my god, I'm going to mutant prison..."</p><p>As he heard Billy mumble, Tommy rolled his eyes heavily as his twin groggily and almost blindly seemed to be reaching to feel him. Still kneeling beside Billy, Tommy helped his brother sit up as he moved to do so, before taking the opportunity to look around the living room himself. </p><p>"If it wasn't you, I'll eat my shoe." He answered the question somewhat flatly as Billy looked himself over. When his twin started to freak out, Tommy's lips pulled into a slight smirk. "B, these people were mom's neighbors, I'm sure a suddenly appearing house isn't the weirdest shit they've seen." He pointed out flatly. "And you are not going to Mutant prison, you didn't destroy anything, you built. And probably increased the property values by cleaning up a vacant lot." He reassured his brother. "Besides, I wouldn't let 'em arrest you." Shifting to stand, he reached out to offer Billy his hand to pull him back to his feet. "You alright to get up?"</p><p>Were they Mom's neighbors? Were these the same people? It wasn't as though he'd recognized any of them. Then again, they hadn't met too many people. Like Tommy had pointed out earlier, Mom had kept both of them on a pretty tight leash.</p><p>"I built a house that shouldn't exist," he mumbled and startled a bit as the furniture's style seemed to flicker for a moment. "Oh no. How do I turn it off?"</p><p>Billy took Tommy's hand and realized as he got to his feet that he wasn't the only one who'd changed. Tommy wore what appeared to be a matching outfit, but his sweater was green rather than red. Under other circumstances, Billy would have laughed his ass off. Now, it didn't seem very funny.</p><p>"Tommy, I have to...I don't know. Take it down?" The magic thrummed in his veins. It was a powerful feeling, but a scary one, too. There was no control. Just...chaos. "Maybe we should just go..."</p><p>Not bothering to think about whether the people still living here actually were Wanda's neighbors, Tommy was more concerned at that moment with making sure Billy was alright. He might usually be an asshole or a jerk to his twin, but this definitely wasn't the time for that. </p><p>Especially not when the furniture flickered, and both twins jumped a little in response to the change. "Listen, it's still not the weirdest thing." He pointed out simply. "And I don't think there is a turning it off, B." The white haired twin pointed out, finally noticing his own sweater and jeans as he stood.</p><p>Releasing Billy's hand, Tommy plucked at the green sweater for a moment with a mildly distasteful expression. "I suppose we should be happy it's not the overalls." He snarked, before realizing that probably wouldn't land well with Billy. "Sorry." He apologized swiftly. </p><p>As Billy pondered what to do, Tommy took advantage of their both standing there to look around the house slowly. "Billy, I don't think you've got 'take it down' in you right now. Putting it up almost knocked you out." He pointed out a little flatly.  "And if you wanna just go, we can."</p><p>He groaned. It was the answer he'd expected, but that didn't make it any nicer to hear. How Billy wished he could turn off his magic. What he wouldn't give to be like Tommy, to be able to turn his powers on and off with a thought. Yes, Tommy had had his struggles and Billy knew that. But, he still had more control. Billy felt powerless, despite his power. Always. Wanda tried to help, Doctor Strange tried to help, but his magic was wild and taming something like that took...time and effort. No one had time for a dumb teenager who couldn't control his chaos magic.</p><p>"It's fine. Just...I don't know how we can explain a house popping out of nowhere and I really don't want to get into it with the authorities because they'll probably send sentinels after me or god knows what." He'd seen the sentinels on TV. Built to combat mutants, they were killing machines. To put Tommy in that kind of danger would be unforgivable. "We'll just...play it cool?"</p><p>As Billy groaned, Tommy folded his arms across his chest a little self-consciously, eyeing his twin a little curiously. Despite his seeming calm, Tommy's right foot was tapping the floor at such a remarkable rate of speed that his foot was blurring in and out of view. He was just as on edge as Billy was: but where his brother could build with his tension, Tommy had only ever blown up.</p><p>"Nobody paid attention to us." He pointed out. "So nobody's gonna know who to send the authorities after." As Billy angsted about Sentinels, Tommy shifted a little anxiously on his feet himself at the thought. "Play it cool." He nodded his agreement. "Snoop 'round here a bit, then just..  go."</p><p>Billy plucked at his sweater once again. It was comfy, he'd admit, but really not something he would normally wear. Tommy was right, though. Overalls would have been so much worse...</p><p>With a bit more swagger than he might have normally had, Billy moved to the door and opened it. A normal person would have just left the house, but he stood there, staring. Was the house real? Was outside real? What if one overrode the other? God, magic was complicated. He took a deep breath in and focused on the molten core inside of him. It was so much easier here than it was at home. And then he took a step.</p><p>Safe. Solid ground. "We're okay," he told Tommy. "Maybe we should look around a little bit." His eyes flicked to Agnes' house.</p><p>He wasn't one for sweaters, especially the plush, thick ones like this - but standing there with his arms folded across his chest, he had to admit that it felt cozy and, honestly, comfortable. But that was about the furthest thing from important at that moment.</p><p>The swagger when Billy headed towards the front door was one of the most preposterous things Tommy had ever witnessed. He had no idea that Billy was even capable of such a clearly in control walk. Yet there was his twin, heading to the door as if he were king of the castle. In a blur of movement, Tommy had followed Billy to lean against the doorframe as Billy stepped outside. </p><p>"Except for whatever you did to our clothes." He pointed out as he followed Billy out of the door, closing it behind him as Billy glanced towards Agnes' house. He knew what Billy was wondering about: knew exactly where he wanted to look. "No." Tommy said flatly. "I ain't goin' anywhere near that basement. I don't care how curious we are, I followed you down there once and I'm pretty sure I'm still claustrophobic because of it."</p><p>Walking outside felt strange after being in the house. It was different outside. Clean in a way Billy couldn't explain. The magic was centered here. His mother's, at least. Agnes' magic flowed toward the house next door. As much as he didn't want to investigate, Billy thought perhaps he and Tommy were the best ones to do so. Maybe they'd be the ones to give the Avengers the right information to take Agnes down. Or, at the very least, their mother.</p><p>"I didn't mean to," he muttered in protest as he opened the door and stepped outside. It felt just like it had before, minus the extra heat from the sweater. No one looked at them like they were out of place. Agnes' house was...eerily familiar and Billy both wanted to look inside and run away in equal measure.</p><p>"We should take a look, right? I mean, it's not like she's real. She's not gonna jump out of a closet and kill us," Billy argued both for himself and for Tommy. She couldn't, right? Even if she was real?</p><p>While Billy thought of the Avengers and the anchoring pull of magic, Tommy was considering all of the weird dreams and the sensations that had accompanied them. And being there, standing in the house from the dreams - even down to the framed family photo on an accent table - was putting him more and more on edge. The opportunity to step outside was, thus, very welcome. </p><p>"Didn't say you did, did I?" Tommy snarked slightly at Billy's muttered protest. "I'm just thankful I didn't wind up a stinkin' kid again." He emphasized pointedly. But he, like Billy, kept glancing over at the house on the left. Agnes' house.</p><p>"If she kills me, Kaplan, I'll kill you myself the next time we reincarnate." Tommy threatened, grudgingly and nonverbally giving his agreement to his twin's desire to investigate a little closer. "But you go first."</p><p>Billy let out a chuckle that was just a little too forced. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he saw Agnes again, but he knew it wouldn't be anything good. Now that they were here, back in Westview, he recalled just a bit more. Her magic wrapping it's tendrils around his throat. Choking and waiting for his mother to save them. She had, of course, but that didn't make the waiting part go away.</p><p>Outside was bright and sunny as they'd left it, but Agnes' house was...magnetic. That empty feeling, the same feeling Billy had felt when he'd first felt her magic. Something was wrong there. How to tell Tommy? Clearly, his twin was as reluctant to move towards the ominous house as Billy was.</p><p>"Tommy, we need to check it out. There's something there, I know it."</p><p>For a second interaction with magic being used on him, it had been a hell of a step up from Billy stopping him mid-run. It had been cold, suffocating, made him feel powerless and helpless. Subconsciously adjusting the collar of his sweater at his neck, he continued to warily eye the other home.</p><p>"I don't suppose we can leave it an uninvestigad and unspoken sometime?" He questioned Billy somewhat hesitantly.  He knew the answer to the question before he even finished asking it. Billy needed to know, and so naturally they would investigate. </p><p>Containing his sigh, Tommy started to move towards Agnes' home on high alert, ready to get them both out of there in a microsecond if a branch so much as tapped a window.</p><p>As much as Billy wanted to leave Agnes uninvestigated, he knew he'd be kicking himself for years if he didn't take this opportunity. The house was right there and maybe it wasn't safe, but it was as close to the truth as they'd gotten so far. Plus, Billy had just raised a house from nothing, so what harm could this possibly do?</p><p>"I wish," Billy muttered anyway before starting across the neatly manicured lawn. It was oddly familiar, uncomfortably so. The house loomed before them and Billy decided maybe it was a better idea not to go straight for the front door. While it was more than likely Agnes no longer lived here, coming face to face with her would be...unpleasant was putting it mildly.</p><p>"The window," he whispered to Tommy, gesturing toward one that was front-facing. Crouching, he made his way over and stood just enough to peer over the windowsill.</p><p>Agnes. Billy let out a strangled moan and staggered backward. She was there. Right there. Just watching TV as if nothing had ever happened.</p><p>"Tommy, we should go."</p><p>Tommy knew trying to talk Billy out of it was never going to fly. His twin might let bullies walk all over him, and get upset if he was teased too pointedly, but he was determined once an idea, good or bad, got into his head. So when Billy muttered and started across the lawn, Tommy could only sigh as he followed his younger brother. </p><p>"Well, I didn't think you'd just kick in the front door." He snarked in a low whisper as Billy gestured towards a window. Crouching down a little himself, he followed Billy to the glass, and peered over the lip of the window.</p><p>His blood nearly froze in his veins. Not that he would admit that to Billy at that moment. Besides, his brother took care of that for him: the moan, the slight reel back. Tommy shifted and grabbed Billy even before his brother had vocalized a wish to go.</p><p>The word had barely left Billy's mouth before they were off, the world halting around them and slowing to a crawl. Less than a second later, Tommy was unceremoniously planting Billy's feet on the floor of Teddy's apartment in New York: black smoke streaming from the burnt soles of his shoes. "Right. Well, this doesn't clear anything up." He observed dramatically before flopping onto the couch dramatically.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feel free to join for more suburban trauma!</p><p>https://discord.gg/tf7WMZBW5U</p></blockquote></div></div>
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